In beauty salons and the like, it is common to wash a person's hair prior to styling, setting or applying color tinting. And hair washing is regularly provided in hospitals and nursing homes. Typically, the person is requested to lie supine or semi-supine in a backwardly-reclining chair with the head resting upon a curved recess formed in the edge of the wash basin. Wash water flows from the person's head and hair directly into the basin.
There is a growing awareness that washing hair in this way can induce what has come to be known as "beauty parlor stroke syndrome." There have been instances of cervical musculoskeletal and vascular damage, e.g., vertebral carotid artery damage and resultant neurological sequelae, when the person's neck is hyperextended over a sink or basin. Damage to the blood vessels in the neck can result in transient ischemic attacks and cerebral vascular accidents. And the hyperextension of the neck results in musculoskeletal pain and discomfort.
Devices have been configured for use when washing a person's hair while the person is seated in an upright position. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 367,157 (Norvotnick) and 717,148 (Walters) disclose such devices but there is no suggestion that the inventors recognized the possibility of beauty parlor stroke syndrome or that such devices were configured to address such syndrome. On the contrary. The Walters patent explains that the hood is to protect the face and clothing while the person remains in what the patent calls a normal position.
The Norvotnick device includes a funnel-shaped vessel made of india rubber. Clearly, the vessel retains a shape, i.e., is not flaccid or limp, and, apparently, is used by stretching it over the head of the person.
The Walters hood includes a rubber sheet permanently attached to a reinforcing wire which extends inwardly to engage the head and bend around the ears. Of course, wire does not stretch so it is unclear as to how the Walters hood is fitted to persons' heads of varying size.
It is apparent that the Walters hood has some shape-retention capability--portions of the sheet are reinforced with wire as described above and with an extra layer of rubber. And the entire sheet is understood to be secured to the head with two pairs of buttoning rubber straps. A separate curved metal trough plate supports the sheet so that water drains into a receptacle.
While these prior art devices were presumably suitable for their intended purpose, they are not without disadvantages. For example, both the Norvotnick and the Walters devices are intended to stretch over the head of the person. If the head-engaging portion of the device is sized for a small person, it is likely to be quite uncomfortable when stretched over the head of a large person. And, conversely, if sized for a large person, it seems unlikely that the device will fit a small person satisfactorily.
Another apparent disadvantage is being less than fully flaccid, the vessel (Norvotnick) or hood (Walters) may be unnecessarily difficult to pack and store. And the Walters hood includes a rigid trough which could be cumbersome in use and, more certainly, in storage.
Yet another disadvantage relates to sanitation in use. Neither the Norvotnick nor the Walters patents disclose any recognition of a need to provide a feature making the device "user-specific" or how to do so.
Still other disadvantages relate to cleansing of the device and to positioning of the vessel or hood with respect to the supporting structure. Both the Norvotnick vessel and the Walters hood include a wire, reinforcement or the like which is inseparable from the water-impermeable portion. Cleansing of such portion is seemingly made more difficult. Further, repair by replacement of such portion without discarding the entire supporting structure appears to be impossible as is positional adjustment of the supporting structure and the wire or other reinforcement with respect to one another.
A new apparatus for use when washing hair which addresses certain shortcomings of earlier devices in this field and which aids in preventing beauty parlor stroke syndrome would be an important advance in the art.